Abstract

The project on which this thesis is based examined the way that women who are part of marginalized groups, those who are often excluded from social movement leadership, engage with policy, and take political action with the support of community-based feminist organisations providing popular education in Quebec. Many of these organisations have challenged neoliberal governmental policies in the province through various forms of political actions. This examination has taken the form of a qualitative study based on interviews with five key informants from four feminist community-based organizations in Montreal that: 1) practice feminist popular education 2) are part of the Quebec social movement against austerity 3) offer services to women who are from marginalized groups. The data collected illustrate the way these feminist popular education groups support the inclusion of women in a mass social movement against neoliberal policies through strategies adapted to the nature of the women who participate in them and use their services.

Three interesting themes have emerged for further research and examination: first, the role of organisational structure in the application of feminist popular education; second, the issues of accessibility of popular social movements and third, the role of informal spaces for social movement learning and popular education.